Q. I am on the board of a condominium association. A unit owner fell asleep while filling his bathtub, and the water poured over, damaging his unit only. The unit owner claims his homeowners insurance carrier will not cover his negligence and is demanding the association submit a claim to its insurance policy and pay the damages. Must the association comply?

A. Unit owners are responsible for damage to units and common elements that arises from the use and operation of their units regardless of negligence per Section 9.1(a) of the Condominium Act.

Pursuant to Section 12 of the Condominium Act, the association's insurance policy is the primary insurance policy. However, pursuant to Section 12(c) of the Condominium Act, the board may assess, as a fine, the association's insurance deductible against the unit owner who caused the damage.

Thus, if the damage amount is less than the deductible, the unit owner is responsible for paying; and if the damage is more than the deductible, the association's policy should cover the casualty loss. But the unit owner will be liable for the full policy deductible.

Q. I sit on a town house community association board. I am aware that for condominium associations, unit owners are entitled to attend board meetings but do not have the right to speak during the board meeting. Does the same rule apply for community associations?

A. Pursuant to Section 1-40 of the Common Interest Community Association Act (CICAA), owners in a community association are also entitled to attend the open portion of board meetings to observe the meeting but may not disrupt or speak while the board is conducting business.

However, unlike the requirements in the Condominium Act, Section 1-40 of CICAA requires that community association boards reserve a portion of the board meeting for comments by owners. The duration of the owner comment session, and when it occurs during the board meeting, is within the sole discretion of the board.

Q. Lenders for condominium unit purchasers commonly ask the association to provide them the percentage of the units that are owner/rental occupied. Should the answer to that question be based on the addition of all the rented units' percentage in the common elements or the number of units leased divided by the total number of units?

A. Lender questionnaires for contract purchasers of condominium units request the percentage of unit owner/rental occupancy as a part of the lender's risk assessment for the loan. The proper method to calculate such percentage for that purpose is to divide the number of leased units by the total number of units.